From the Daily Prophet of 30 July, 2000
Seeking a Seeker
Potter, Diop set to duel for place with Puddlemere
By
Mike Thalia
PUDDLEMERE, England -- There are many issues
lurking as the Puddlemere United Quidditch Club prepares to open training next
week. Are the veteran Chasers too old to keep their starting positions? Can
Keeper Oliver Wood match the brilliance he displayed last winter? Will any of
the Beaters fare well enough to end the team’s tradition of disgraceful
defence? Is this finally the year the
wait for a trophy ends?
But even the last question, which supporters
of Britain’s oldest club have been asking for more than two decades, has been
relegated to secondary status this summer. All eyes are now on the Golden
Snitch -- or at least the men trying to catch it.
With much-celebrated hero Harry Potter joining
Samuel Diop on the roster, Puddle U. has the potential for a serious Seeker
controversy. As the team gathers for the first time at Nimbus Arena on Tuesday,
manager Glenn Watson faces the difficult task of choosing a starter in what
might be the most anticipated training camp in the history of the Quidditch
League of Great Britain and Ireland.
“It’s exciting to be here now,” Watson told a
gathering of reporters in his office Saturday as maintenance wizards were busy
casting Scouring Charms on the locker rooms across the corridor. “We have more
talent on this team now than we have at any point in my four years here. That
certainly includes Seekers. What manager wouldn’t be delighted to have the
world’s most famous wizard and the league’s finest player at the same
position?”
The Puddlemere boss is certainly delighted,
considering he’s built a winner at United around superb Seeking.
“It takes a lot of goals to overcome those 150
points if you don’t get the Snitch,” Watson said. “The easiest way to win in
this game is to have a good Seeker. Or two good Seekers,” he added with a
chuckle.
That Watson actually has two good Seekers is
hardly a given. In spite of all the ballyhoo his arrival has caused, Potter has
never kicked off from a professional pitch. Still, few in the Puddle U. camp
doubt there will be a fierce struggle for the position throughout the coming
month of training.
“The lad has proven he will not give up,”
United captain Siobhan Moran said, alluding to The Boy Who Lived’s long battle
against the Dark Side. “I think Samuel could be in for a most-spirited
challenge.”
Diop is the known factor in the Puddlemere
Seeking corps and has had the better of many previous challenges. The tall and
wiry Senegalese sensation is widely credited with having the quickest reflexes
in the league. He also seems to have an almost superhuman sense for finding the
Snitch -- to the tune of 36 captures in his two seasons at Nimbus Arena.
“I try to be fast,” Diop said from his home
outside Kaolack in his native country. “That is my only secret. If I get the
Snitch quickly, my team wins the match.”
It’s a simple strategy, but it works. United
has won 32 times in the last two winters and Diop caught the Snitch in every
one of those games. He’s been so successful opposing teams often change their
tactics against Puddlemere.
“Everyone knows our strategy is to outscore
teams,” Montrose captain David Adams said. “We usually don’t pay much attention
to what the Seekers are doing. But if you let (Diop) go, the match could be
over in minutes. We have our Beaters make sure he has to work for the Snitch
against us.”
“He’s brilliant,” Watson said of Diop, the man
who has been his first-team choice 48 matches in a row. “His flying skills are
exceptional and his instinct for finding the Snitch is even better. The other
side almost always concentrates on stopping him and he still gets the capture.”
The man seeking to capture Diop’s job last put
on Quidditch robes for Gryffindor House at Hogwarts more than two years ago.
Potter signed with Chudley after leaving school but opted to spend the next 23
months hunting Dark wizards for the Ministry instead of on the pitch. Earlier
this summer, successive twists saw the Boy Who Lived transferred to Puddle U.
for 100,000 Galleons and forced from the Auror Division by Minister of Magic
Cornelius Fudge. He is entering his first professional training camp.
As a Gryffindor, Potter was noted for his
daring and spectacular catches in a seven-year career. He missed the Snitch
just once in 12 matches and was the hero in his House’s Quidditch Cup victories
in 1994 and 1998. However, he had a history of sitting out crucial games,
including matches that decided the school title in 1992 and 1996.
Just one league Seeker has played against
Potter and he was not impressed by the national hero’s skills.
“Potter’s nothing special,” said Draco Malfoy,
20, who faced the Boy Who Lived six times as a member of the Slytherin team and
spent last season with the Wimbourne reserves. “He nearly got himself killed
making a couple of lucky captures in school and now everyone thinks he’s going
to be a star. Well, they’re all in for a major disappointment, because that’s
the only thing Potter has the talent to give them.”
But Wood has a much different opinion of his
former Gryffindor team-mate.
“Harry’s a natural,” the United Keeper said
enthusiastically. “I was there when he first started playing and I’ve never
seen anyone pick up the game faster. By his second match he was a star. Give
him a bit to adjust to professional matches and he’s going to be one of the
best here too.”
Whether or not Potter gets an adjustment
period will be just part of the decision Watson has to make in the weeks ahead.
Saturday, the United boss reiterated the indecision he has been publicly
expressing all summer about the team he will take into the season opener at
Portree.
“I won’t start making decisions about the
squad until after the first few days of training camp,” Watson said. “As far as
I’m concerned, we have seven Seekers who could be on the pitch on the 2nd
of September. Everyone is talking about Sam and Harry, but Gregg (Knapp) did
well for our reserves last year, (Gwen) Ayres has a pretty good CV from
Holyhead and our scouts who saw (Ekaterina) Petrova play in school last year
had nothing but praise for her. I wouldn’t be surprised if any of them made the
squad.”
But the record number of witches and wizards
who have bought tickets to see Puddlemere in the upcoming season have done so
to see Potter. That makes it is almost inconceivable he (or Diop, given his
past success) will not be among the three Seekers on United’s final 20-wizard
roster.
Still, only one of them will start for the
first team. It’s a role both Potter and Diop hope to earn, and the two stars
are excited for Tuesday’s first opportunity to distinguish themselves.
Said Diop, “It is good to be starting again. I
am ready. I want to do well and help my team win.”
The Boy Who Lived expressed a similar sentiment
in a press release issued Friday by his agents, Fred and George Weasley. “I
feel honoured and privileged to be attending the Puddlemere United training
camp. I look forward to meeting the rest of the team and the challenges
Tuesday’s first session is sure to present. … I hope I can make a respectable
showing and compete for a place with the squad.”
Thousands of Puddlemere supporters are
expecting far more than respectable showings from both men as United begins its
season.
“The pressure is on them,” Watson said. “The fans are going to want them to
produce. I think they will.”
It wouldn’t be a Seeker controversy if he
didn’t.
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Mike Thalia covers Puddlemere United for the
Daily Prophet. Owl him at thedpreporting@yahoo.com
<A/N: First of all, thanks to everyone who
has reviewed. The response to the last two chapters has been overwhelming and I
am truly grateful. You guys are the best for not giving up on me!
Now, a lot of you have been asking about the
romantic side of this fic, so I figured it’s about time for me to respond. Very
vaguely. Yes, as I’ve pointed out in my summary, our young hero‘s love life
will be addressed. However, this is going to be a long fic (unless I change
plans, at least 70 articles), so that side of things will come when it comes.
This much I will say though: You’ll learn as soon as the Daily Prophet does. ;)
Thanks also go to my ever-intrepid betas, Nancy, Lady Chi and Promethean Alchemist. They‘re the people working hard in the background while I (gladly) take all the credit.>